Stupidity: Our Biggest Threat?
2nd November 2025
Stupidity can at first be a derogatory term, it can also seem judgemental when cast from others and indeed it can be somewhat subjective. In Artificial Intelligence and behavioural economics we are very interested in stupidity. As Amos Tversky quipped:“My colleagues, they study artificial intelligence; me, I study natural stupidity.”
My curiosity into the subject of ‘stupidity’ was triggered based on a specific type of stupidity, which is a different concept to irrationality. Danny Kahneman used to differentiate stupidity and irrationality by saying he was more interested in peoples “susceptibility to erroneous intuitions.” Likewise, stupidity is not ignorance, which I define as lack of knowledge and understanding.
Here we are in the 21st century, we can launch and catch rockets descending from the sky, we have instant communication systems, we can buy and sell goods globally with a click on our incredibly powered personal computers, our money is transferred in nanoseconds, our medical advancements are helping to cure diseases, we have self-driving taxis that have covered millions of miles. Yet, we still have a myriad of shortcomings and imperfections, especially around choices and decision making, systematically across governments, institutions, business and personal. The crux lies in the quality of these decisions: are they optimal and aligned with human aspirations, the laws of nature, and societal norms? If they are, we can deem them wise; if not, they fall into the category of “stupidity”.
As Ron White used to say, “You cain’t fix stupid.”